Metal dusting is a catastrophic form of carburization which leads to pitting and grooves as the affected metal disintegrates into a mixture of powdery carbon, metallic particles, and possibly oxides and carbides. This high temperature carburization mode is not yet well understood and while relatively infrequent, can be economically disastrous when it does occur in large and complex chemical and petrochemical process streams. References in the literature show that all classes of heat resistant alloys are prone to metal dusting, given the necessary and specific
environmental conditions. These same references describe the environments that plague nickel-containing alloys and are used as the basis for postulation on the probable corrosion mechanisms
responsible for metal dusting. Using alloy 800 and other nickel-containing alloys and metal dusting atmospheres, an effort is made to examine the steps in the metal dusting process and the
temperature ranges over which metal dusting occurs.
Keywords: nickel-base alloys, iron-nickel-chromium alloys, metal dusting, carburization